Umair Masood, Anjum Anwar Qadri, Muhammad Ansar Maqsood.
Stroke; seasonal variation in etiology.
Professional Med J Jan ;13(4):680-6.

Objective: To document seasonal variations in various types of stroke and to identify possible precipitating/aggravating factors. Design: Analytical. Place and Duration of Study: Military Hospital Rawalpindi and Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, for one year, from Is` October 2001 to 30th September 2002. Patients and Methods: 116 adult stroke patients diagnosed on the basis of history, clinical examination and CT Scan and admitted during this period were included in the study. The findings were documented and analyzed using SPSS and frequency of stroke in relation to seasons was calculated. Chi square test was used to determine significance of differences in frequency of different types of stroke in the winter and summer. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 20-87 years.83 were males while 33 were females. Sixty-nine out of 116 cases presented in summer and the rest 47 in winter. In summer out of 69 subjects, 48(69.56%) had ischaemic strokes and 21(30.44%) had hemorrhagic strokes, of which 19 had Intra Cerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) and 2 subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In winter, out of 47 subjects, 28(59.57%) had ischaemic strokes and 19(40.43%) had haemorrhagic strokes (all ICH). Two definite seasonal peaks one in extreme summer (June, July) and the other in extreme winter (December, January) were seen. Conclusions: There is a significant variation in frequency of stroke and its different types in different seasons of the year with higher occurrence in peak summer (June, July) and extreme winter (December, January).

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